Yanny or Laurel? Soundbite sparks internet debates

Any while most listeners were divided on if they heard “Yanny” or “Laurel,” some people said they heard both after multiple listens.

“Laurel, and then I can hear Yanny as well”, Tricia Grishaw, who works at Sal’s said.

Circulating elsewhere on the internet was the line: “Man Calls Girlfriend “Yanny” During Sex, Swears He Said “Laurel”.

Keep in mind, how different the words are – one is Laurel, the other is Yanny. When he heard the clip from someone else’s computer, he heard “yanny”.

I don’t think it was deliberately manipulated for this effect, however.

The debate got so big that even National Football League teams started arguing about it. Take the Panthers for instance – they couldn’t seem to agree on what exactly they were hearing.

On Wednesday, the Reddit user, whose post has polarized the internet, explained the audio is from Vocabulary.com of “Laurel”. First, audiologist Jessica Bell said ” You know, you don’t just hear with your ears, you hear with your brain”.

Lars Riecke, an assistant professor of audition and cognitive neuroscience, told The Verge how you heard the word was all to do with the frequency. It is Laurel and not Yanny alright.

I couldn’t hear anything else until CBC Radio sound producer Lee Rosevere pointed out the science behind one of the most divisive debates of.er. this week. “That could have to do with your hearing or it could also have to do with what you’re listening to it on”. Some people speculated the age of the listener might determine what people heard, while others changed the pitch to alter results.

Doctor David Holmes with Livingston Audiology has been in the ear business for almost 30 years. “But then your own individual kind of way that you perceive the sound also affects that”.